Anthony Weiner

While people are speculating about what Huma Abedin was thinking when she decided to stand by her man in his latest humiliating sexting scandal, close friends and family members tell PEOPLE the answer is simple: her toddling, talking 19-month-old son, Jordan.

Confidants of Anthony Weiner's wife tell PEOPLE in this week's issue that Abedin was on the verge of leaving Weiner last fall, after he confessed in September he was sexting again.

If anyone's been following the sex scandals of Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer, it's Julianna Margulies.

The Emmy-winning actress's CBS show The Good Wife "ripped its title from the headlines when Silda Spitzer was standing right behind her husband" during the prostitution scandal, Margulies told PEOPLE on Tuesday.

With her character "loosely based" on Silda and other political wives who have stood by their husbands, Margulies says, "The headlines are now imitating us because both of these politicians – Spitzer and Weiner – have gotten back into the game of politics. And now newspapers are saying, 'Huma, take some advice from Alicia Florrick. Go back to work, don't read the papers.' "

As anyone who isn't Nell knows, this week Prince William and Duchess Catherine welcomed their son, Prince George Alexander Louis, in an event that nearly took over the internet with second-by-second commentary on everything from Kate's hair (she looked like she just stepped out of a salon, not the delivery room) to the baby's Seinfeldian name (George Costanza, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus). But more happened this week than just the birth of a babe who may or may not celebrate Festivus. So read on for your Internet fix:

Publicly, Huma Abedin said she loves and forgives her husband, Anthony Weiner, despite a second round of sexting revelations.

But a source close to the couple tells PEOPLE she thought of leaving him last fall when Abedin, 36, learned that Weiner, 48, was once again sending sexually explicit messages and photos of himself to other women.

"He came clean to her," says the source, who is a family member.

When he did, Abedin was distraught. "She was seriously considering what to do, thinking: 'Maybe, I can't do this.' There was a possibility of leaving on the table," the source says.

Now, he tells a very different version of What I Did Last Summer, calling it "a rough time in our marriage." (Asked Wednesday at a campaign event whether he'd been dishonest, Weiner said, "Look, I was going through some things personally – family-wise – and trying to be honest about it, about where we were at the time. But this thing, you know, was still there.")

Here, PEOPLE offers previously unpublished and expansive excerpts from that 2012 interview to shed new light on what Weiner and Abedin are saying now.

As new revelations about her husband's indiscretions emerge, Huma Abedin, wife of New York City mayoral candidate and former U.S. Congressman Anthony Weiner, says she believes his heart has truly changed as he tries to re-enter political life after a sexting scandal two years ago.

"When people tell me they're surprised to see me out on the campaign trail, I understand because, trust me, no one is more surprised than I am," Abedin, 37, writes in September's Harper's Bazaar (on newsstands Aug. 20).

"So why am I doing this? Because Anthony has always been a smart, caring and dedicated person, and while he's the same public servant who wants what's best for the people he represents, he is now something else – a better man."

What's next for former New York congressman Anthony Weiner? Baby's first steps, of course.

"I'm very happy in my present life," Weiner, 47, tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview. "The only next dramatic steps I'm planning on are Jordan's first," he says, referring to his 6-month-old son and remaining noncommital on whether he will run for office again.

In his first joint interview with wife Huma Abedin, who is deputy chief of staff to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the couple address how they survived Weiner's lewd text and photo scandal that led to his resignation, as well as who has diaper duty.